So-called paste bins, commonly used for tomato and other fruit and vegetable pastes, are known. The bins are constructed of 11/8" plywood on top of a conventional pallet. Typically, these paste bins are constructed on a pallet with the plywood pallet top serving as the paste bin bottom. The bin bottom is not only integral with the pallet but is recessed with respect to the pallet so that the bin bottom fits interior of the side walls of the pallet. Typically, the bottom of the bin as integrally constructed to the pallet defines at the side edges spatial intervals for receiving the sides of the bin.
In conventional assembly, the bins are usually assembled by the carton supplier. Typically, the containers are recycled and shipped in a disassembled configuration with the sides and tops stacked flat on top of the pallet from the food processor using the paste to the bin manufacturer; alternately, the newly constructed box bins are assembled for the first time at the bin manufacturer.
In assembly, the sides of the container are erected with respect to the pallet and temporarily held in the erect position. Thereafter, usually four horizontal straps are placed about the sides under tension so that the erected sides are rigidly held in place. Finally, the top is placed on the bin and the bin is shipped to the producer of the paste.
Once the erected bin arrives at the at the producer of the paste--and is ready to be filled with paste, the top is removed from the assembled bin. Typically, a two ply polyvinyl liner is placed interiorly of the bin. Thereafter, the paste contents are placed in the interior, and the top is placed on and strapped about the container. Thereafter, the filled container is shipped and stored.
The tomato paste is emptied from the bin at a food processing plant. Thereafter, the bin is disassembled. Typically, and when the paste is removed, the horizontal binding straps are cut, stripped and discarded. Thereafter, the bin sides and top are broken down and placed on top of the pallet. When this is done, the bin is returned to the bin manufacturer for reassembly.
It will be understood that the bins of the prior art require shipping between at least three commercial locations. These locations are the place of bin manufacture, the plant where the bins are loaded with paste, and the plant of the food processor where the paste is used.
It will be understood that the logistics, including transport and supply of the containers are other than trivial. For example, and assuming that the bins are separately hauled in truck load lots, approximately 148 bins are shipped in a disassembled disposition and 58 can be shipped in an assembled disposition. When one realizes that hundreds of thousands of such bins are in use in California's Central Valley alone, the magnitude of the required shipping traffic can be more clearly understood.
It thus will be understood that the shipping of the bin for re-assembly to the box manufacturer has disadvantages. The users of the bin must contract with the box manufacturer for the pre-strapping reassembly of the boxes prior to the bins being filled with paste. In such contracting, the user is placed in a vulnerable position of having to react to the contractors problems with supplier (as where the required straps are not delivered on time), machinery suppliers (subject to breakdowns and unavailable spare parts), and the required employees re-assembling the bins. Even where the user has in-house facilities for the re-strapping assembly of the bins, complications of re-assembly are other than convenient.